Upper Perkiomen Sophomore Shot To Death In Classroom Teen Tells Police Taunts Led To Plan To Kill Classmate

A slight, 15-year-old Upper Perkiomen High School student, fed up with harassment from a much bigger classmate, pulled a gun in his first class yesterday and killed his tormentor in front of 22 students, police said.

Jason Michael Smith of the 700 block of Jefferson Street, Red Hill, then walked out of class and sat against a tree in front of the high school until police arrested him without incident less than an hour later.

Michael Swann, 16, a 6-foot-5-inch sophomore from Finland Road, Marlborough Township, was pronounced dead in the second-floor classroom. He was found slumped in a seat.

Smith, who is 5 foot 4 inches, is charged with first-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, possessing an instrument of crime and carrying firearms without a license. He was arraigned before District Justice Catherine Hummel and is being held without bail at Montgomery County Prison pending a hearing next Tuesday.

The shooting occurred at 8:47 a.m., 25 minutes into the first class. Smith was arrested at 9:35 a.m.

Montgomery County District Attorney Michael D. Marino said Smith will be tried as an adult.

"This appears to be a classic case of premeditated murder and it will be treated as such," Marino said.

Marino characterized relations between the boys as a long-standing feud. "It (the feud) certainly didn't rise to this level (of the shooting)," he added.

According to a police statement, Swann had been picking on Smith since December 1992 by punching and kicking and pushing him into lockers.

Smith told police he decided last Thursday to kill Swann. Before leaving for school yesterday, he took a 9mm automatic Ruger from a gun cabinet owned by his mother's boyfriend and test fired the gun in his bedroom. He then hid the gun in his bookbag and took it to school.

"Once inside the biology class, Smith removed the automatic from his bookbag, walked to within 3-1/2 feet of Swann and fired twice, striking Swann at least once in the head," according to an affidavit filed by Upper Perkiomen Police Chief Thomas J. Liott.

Dr. Halbert E. Fillinger, the Montgomery County coroner, said the cause of death was two gunshots to the head. Fillinger said the bullets entered from the top of the head, indicating Swann was trying to duck when the shots were fired.

Biology teacher Barbara Ryan warned the students to "hit the deck" when Smith entered class late and started to pull the gun out of his bag, the coroner said. "Everybody rolled out (of their desks to the floor) except this guy," Fillinger added.

Smith, dressed in blue jeans and a pullover crew shirt, said nothing as he was escorted in and out of Hummel's office. His mother, Barbara Smith, her boyfriend and the family minister attended the arraignment, which was closed to reporters.

He reportedly left a note at his home, leading police to fear he would either commit suicide or try to shoot at the arresting officers, according to one investigator.

Liott and local residents expressed shock over the shooting, which occurred just over a year after a 12-year-old boy shot and killed 14-year-old Tracy Seidel while she was sitting with friends in an East Greenville parking lot on May 8, 1992.

"Upper Perkiomen is one of the best high schools around," said Liott. "We have no problems with violence here. We have no racial problems here. This is shocking to me."

Liott said his department doesn't record a lot of juvenile crime in the three boroughs --East Greenville, Pennsburg and Red Hill -- it patrols. "We had the shooting last year, then this one. I would hope it doesn't continue," he said.

School administrators ordered students to the larger auditorium rooms in the building, where they explained the incident to each group before dismissing classes just after 10 a.m.

Schools Superintendent Nelson Weber said he didn't know what could have caused the two shootings. "I have no idea," Weber said. "I wish the hell I knew. It's just totally out of character for this community."

Students expressed similar reactions.

Joshua Seville, a 15-year-old ninth grader who knew students in the biology class, said one of them told him Smith walked up to Swann, gun in hand, and said "You want to make fun of me ... , make fun of this." After the first shot was fired, Smith fired again and said, "Go ahead, laugh now," Seville related.

Seville, who said he was on friendly terms with Swann, described him as intimidating and "sort of a bully." He said Swann had been teasing Smith for a long time.

Sophomore Tyler Schaffer, 16, said students in the next classroom told him that they heard two pops, "like test tubes breaking. You wouldn't think they were gunshots," said Schaffer, standing with friend Theo Goda, 16, on the corner across the street from the police station.